‘Inkheart’ plagued by weak acting

Some moviegoers looking to fill the gap in their fantasy-loving hearts until “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” comes out in July may be tempted to see “Inkheart.” They should strongly fight that temptation, as “Inkheart” is a poor substitute, filled with unlikable characters, an unbelievable plot and weak acting.

Brendan Fraser, known best for his portrayal as the bumbling hero in “The Mummy” movies, stars as Mortimer “Mo” Folcheart, a book repairman who has the uncanny ability to bring books to life by reading them aloud. One night, while reading aloud the book “Inkheart” to his 3-year-old daughter and wife, Mo unwittingly allows the diabolical Capricorn and his evil henchmen to escape from the book’s pages. In a weird twist of events, Mo’s wife, Resa (Sienna Guillory), is cast into the pages in their place. Apparently Mo was unaware that if something or someone comes out of a book, someone has to go in. This is odd, since viewers are made to believe Mo has had this ability his entire life; surely he would have been aware of this crucial catch.

The central plot (if you can locate it among the convoluted mess of characters and constant changing of locations) is centered around Mo and his daughter Meggie, now a teenager who speaks with an unexplainable British accent, who are searching for a copy of “Inkheart” to “read out” Resa. Meggie, portrayed by Eliza Hope Bennet, has no memory of the traumatic evening when her mother disappeared and spends half the movie whining about how she longs to know why they are searching for the book.

Conflict arises when Capricorn captures Mo and Meggie to force Mo to read for him. It is as lame as it sounds. Viewers may have a hard time taking Capricorn seriously, as he is portrayed by Andy Serkis, best known for playing Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Serkis’s Capricorn is not frightening at all, and he spends most of the film spitting when he talks and threatening Mo with the death of his only daughter so he will read to him. In addition to the weak acting, the ending is a sloppy solution to a problem that is made to be more complicated.

What is so terribly sad about the film is that two random, inconsequential characters are played by two of Hollywood’s greatest actors. The talented Paul Bettany (”A Knight’s Tale”) plays Dustfinger, a magical fire breather who was read out by Mo along with Capricorn. Dustfinger longs to return to the book but is plagued by being the most fickle character in the entire movie.

He first tries to warn Mo of Capricorn’s evil intentions and then leads Capricorn back to Mo, and so and so forth for the entire movie. Viewers will find Dustfinger the most unlikable character, although it seems the movie attempts to portray him in a sympathetic light. In an even more painful casting choice, Academy Award winner Helen Mirren plays Elinor, Meggie’s great-aunt, who really has nothing to do with the story at all and is instead reduced to a few humorous lines and one ride on a unicorn.

“Inkheart” is a terrible waste of a movie ticket, especially with prices the way they are now. It is hard to believe the film was adapted from a best-selling book trilogy. After watching the 100-minute long film, it is impossible to imagine that someone had enough of a plot to write three books centered on this story.

1 out of 5 stars.